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The congregation at Shepherd's Community Church has worshipped weekly in a shared space in Louisville for the past decade, but it finally has its own home and will host its grand opening celebration this Sunday.

The non-denominational church offered its Sunday services at Louisville's Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Colo. Highway 42 and Paschal Drive while church staff searched from Boulder to Denver for their own space. In September, they finally moved into a building that formerly housed a software company at 505 Courtney Way in Lafayette.

Shepherd's Church Pastor Ron Prosise missed the move, however, because he was deployed Aug. 23 to a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany as a chaplain with the Air National Guard.

Shepherd's Community Church, 505 Courtney Way in Lafayette, will host a grand opening celebration Sunday, Dec. 11. The church moved into the new building in September after worshipping in a Louisville church for the past 10 years. Pictured: Shepherd's worship minister Kyle Petersen, left, and senior pastor Ron Prosise. (Kimberli Turner/Colorado Hometown Weekly)

"We've been praying and praying and God answered our prayers," Prosise said of the new facility. "It came at an interesting time in my deployment but the church handled it well."

Prosise said worship minister Kyle Petersen and church elders stepped in to lead the Sunday services until the senior pastor returned Oct. 28 following his two-month stint overseas.

The church's four-month renovation on the 10,000 square foot building was finished in August and the facility has a large fellowship area off of the sanctuary, as well as classrooms for youth, middle school and high school ministry; the high school classroom is complete with recliners and a foosball table.

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Shepherd's Church offers contemporary and traditional music with a worship ensemble led by Petersen and Prosise's sermons are based on the teachings of the Bible.

"We believe the Bible is God's word and we need to understand that so we gear our messages toward that," he said. "Our priority is what God's word says and the adventure is understanding that and living it out."

Prosise, who came to Shepherd's Church in 2006, said he's thankful his congregation is supportive of his work as a chaplain.

"That gives me opportunities that I'd like to think makes me a better pastor," Prosise said. "This allows me to have my civilian ministry job and a military ministry job and that way I am allowed to do both."

The pastor was an enlisted soldier with the United States Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the Combat Developments Experimentation Center at Fort Ord, California, from 1984 to 1987 and has served as a chaplain with each branch of the military since, most recently with the Air National Guard.

During his recent deployment, Prosise counseled wounded soldiers coming from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"It was a great opportunity to serve our men and women who are downrange in Afghanistan and Iraq and are in harm's way," he said. "You look at the attitude of our men and women who come to the hospital and they look at this as an honor to serve our country."

Prosise was assigned to the hospital's psychiatry care ward. He noted that the soldiers' dedication is "astounding" with their desire to heal as quickly as possible and get back out and fight.

"There's a tremendous sense of loyalty and commitment," he said.

Prosise, who has also been deployed to Hawaii, Brazil and Jordan, was able to bring his family with him to Germany.

Prosise and his wife, Donna, and 17-year-old daughter Anna, live in Erie.

Shepherd's Community Church will host its grand opening celebration with fellowship at 10 a.m. and its service following at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at 505 Courtney Way off of Coal Creek Drive in Lafayette.

"We thought how great that would be to tie (the grand opening) into Christmas for those who might not have a church home and want to come for Christmas," he said.

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